Archaeologists have unearthed 2,400-year-old treasure in a Thracian tomb in eastern Bulgaria, the director of the country's history museum said yesterday.

　　Professor Daniela Agre, who led the team of 15 from the Bulgarian Archaeological Institute, said the finds, made on Saturday, provided enormous clues to understanding one of Europe's most mysterious ancient people.

　　"The Thracians are one of the founders of European civilisation, this is important for all of us, not just Bulgaria," she said. "The period of the grave is exceptionally important. It was a peak moment in the development of Thracian culture, statesmanship and art. They had very strong contacts and mutual influences with Greece, Anatolia and Scythia."

　　Among the objects found were a golden laurel and ring, rhytons - silver drinking vessels shaped like horns, Greek pottery and military items including weapons and armour.

　　The tomb in Zlatinitsa, 180 miles east of the capital Sofia, is also extraordinary in that it has remained unopened since, Prof Agre estimated, the 4th century BC. Most Thracians tombs were looted in antiquity and those that remain untouched are vulnerable to sophisticated looters.

　　"This is the only way we can learn from artefacts, when they are in their original context," said Prof Vassil Nikolov, director of the Bulgarian Archaeological Institute. Prof Agre said it was the tomb of an upper-class lord or similarly powerful and wealthy leader, perhaps a governor.

　　"The used weapons and the arrow wounds in the bones of his horse indicated that he was a warrior. He was buried in the biggest burial mound in the region," said Prof Agre. "This was like a province of England, such as Kent, and he was the leader.

　　"Most of what is known about the Thracians, a nation of illiterate and loosely organised tribes, comes from the written accounts by the ancient Greeks who called them barbarians."

　　Scientists said the highly advanced artistry of the finds and architecture of the tombs made the Thracians more sophisticated than was thought.